Wrenches are available in a wide variety of styles and sizes. The most common types of wrenches are likely the open-end wrench and the box wrench. The open-end wrench has an opening of particular size and two parallel sides for engaging opposite sides of a work piece (e.g., a nut or bolt). The box wrench generally has a polygonal opening for contacting the circumferential surfaces of a work piece.
There also exist ratcheting socket wrenches, which hasten the process of inserting or removing a work piece considerably since ratcheting socket wrenches do not require that the wrench be removed from the work piece at the end of each turn. Ratcheting socket wrenches also have the advantage of being employable for a variety of work pieces, as sockets of diverse size may be releasably attached to the ratcheting body.
Most conventional ratcheting socket wrenches in use today require a large number of interchangeable socket heads so as to accommodate work pieces of different diameters. For example, approximately 41 different socket heads are required to accommodate both standard and metric sizes within the range of from 5/16 to 1 inch in diameter. An additional equal number of socket heads may be required if deep bolt clearance is necessary for the work to be performed. A complete set of sockets is expensive, bulky and heavy to carry about, and are very easily lost. Accordingly, there remains a need for alternative wrenches and/or gripping tools, to accommodate a wide range of sizes of work pieces, such as nuts, bolts, and other work pieces.